how are your lessons going? thread II

My problem with arms is less how they look than when I have to think about what I'm doing with them everything from the waist down goes to pot. I tell NP, I can think about arms, or I can think about feet. Pick one.

Funny moment from my lesson this weekend (not the one with the new am partner): My pro had been brainstorming choreography for me while she was on travel competing. She emailed me what she was thinking. Keeping in mind that I have essentially no knowledge of the silver smooth syllabus, I had some questions for her about the email. It started off something like this:

Me: So, I see here you say I do chases to rift. I kind of know what chases are in tango, but what're rifts?
Her: *blink* That was supposed to be "chasses to right". [Curse] you autocorrect!

Suffice it to say, we both called them chases to rift for the remainder of the lesson.

Lesson this week was meh. I was tired and a bit off - the dance funk continues - so it was less than impressive.

Some work on part of my newest long wall in FT. I continue to struggle with the throwaway oversway, feather finish, reverse turn into continuous reverse wave combination. I can do all of the pieces individually (though the wave still needs some work - it's my 'million dollar figure'), but the combination is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Pro and I are having some difficulty pinpointing exactly what the issue is, `cause when we break it down, everything is fine. That said, I've had the wall for a month or so, and had about 2 lessons where we've worked on it, so... I'll get it, and it will be ready for next comp.

Then tango, which has improved since the last time we worked on it. Thank goodness that those hours of practice are starting to show! Feeling a little better about the dance in general, but it is still far from my favourite. I have one part of the routine that looks and feels really solid, so have to get the rest to that level. Also worked a fair bit on connection - which included a good 10 minute period dancing with only body/leg and my right/lead's left hand as the connection points... theory being that if I'm forced to rely a little more on the connection points that I use the least, I'll get more comfortable with them over time and improve overall connection and receptivity. Makes sense, but I still felt like an idiot... and a little incompetent!

Latin lesson made some real headway on fixing my walks and postural bad habits...now I just need to drill the changes for hours!

Smooth lesson was really unfocused (mostly my fault), but still reaffirmed that I'm getting recent corrections into muscle memory and continuing to progress and develop in the four dances. Here's hoping I can come back swinging next week!

I am very excited to be taking 2 coaching lessons this week end with a well known coach.
My Pro often will ask me what dance I would like the coaching in.... So do I pick my best dance to look to improve this dance or pick my worst dance that I am having trouble with? I am trying to decide what is the better value for my money?

I always go with a list of what stinks from any number of dances and get through as much of the list as possible.........and generally they see something that wasn't on my list but was important and we do that as well

Slightly redeeming lesson yesterday, after the disaster earlier in the week... despite me having a headache. First long wall of QS is going to be amazing... and there's no way that I could have done it even 3 months ago. Yay, improving!

Pro tortured me with QS exercises. Positive that he enjoyed this part. There was much jumping, while wearing weights. At one point, the headache did intensify to the point of being blinding, so lesson included a brief pause where I took some painkillers, then no more jumping... well, no more jumping exercises at least.... and for a few minutes, I sat on a ledge while pro talked and demonstrated

And some work on Tango, which I tend to dance too high and light. While working on grounding, we have hands on hips, with thumbs pressing down on hipbones... and I'm standing behind pro, watching as he shows me what he means with the pressing down of thumbs. Another student down the floor calls out "why are you staring at his butt?", quickly followed by another one saying "Just because his wife isn't here, FF..." Much laughter all around. Good thing it was a quiet time, with only the regulars in attendance...

I found out over a month ago that my instructor was going on vacation for 3 weeks and therefore, no lessons. At the time I was thinking it would be a nice break from lessons for a bit and would give me a chance to get some good practices in. Yesterday was my last lesson before pro leaves. And I was feeling more panicky. What seemed like a good thing a month ago is freaking me out now. I have a comp 2 weeks after he gets back, then a showcase a few weeks after that, then another comp 2 weeks after the showcase. Yep, panicking!

Lots of coaching and lessons last week while on vacation...first coach very informative...lots of fine details on tango, with the idea of helping tell the story...he said the audience wouldn't know about or care about the steps, but they would remember the story...other food for thought was don't dwell on bad past history and don't dance if you don't love it...looking forward to additional coaching in the future...

Second "name" coach informative in a different way...coach suggested practice exercises for me to do...said do them for 6 to 8 weeks and I should begin to figure out things on my own...rest of coaching on ideas of where movement is generated from...very esoteric...wasn't really sure what I got out of this until next lesson with pro when I did something different in shadow position that came out of coaching...maybe I got more out of it than I thought...

Several lessons since coaching...pro took practice exercises to heart, so we're doing them...got tired of pro saying do this so I gave it my all...and he says that's more like it...I never hurt so bad afterwards...

One side effect is I may be slimming down a little...yesterday I managed to comfortably wear a pair of jeans that I haven't worn for 6 months...not really the way I wanted to go about this but ok...

Might be taking my first lesson with a visiting coach next week. Haven't floated the idea with my partner at all, but might take it solo even if she's not available / financially able to do it (money's a bit tight for her).

Yesterday evening I found out additional coaching with first coach has been arranged...soon...both pro and I like coach for different reasons...arguably the best one we've had...still, I am on information overload...I am stressing out over particpating in an event in a couple of weeks...not sure how I can pull it together when it seems like I'm in teardown mode...